CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

81

United-States Government at St. Petersburg, in 1809, he accompanied him, and spent six years in the Russian capital, learning to speak fluently, not only the dialect of the country, but also the German and French languages.

In February, 1815, then in his eighth year, he went with his mother in a private carriage, from St. Petersburg to Paris, to meet his father, a journey at any time no trivial undertaking, but then, on account of the disturbed condition of Europe, attended with unusual embarrassments.

On his appointment to a mission at the court of St. James, his father took Charles to England with him, and placed him in a boarding-school. Here he sometimes had personal encounters with his school-fellows in the defence of the honor of his country against the insults of young England. Returning to Boston in 1817, he entered the Latin School, and subsequently Harvard College, graduating in 1825.

The two succeeding years he passed in the Presidential mansion, Washington, which was occupied by his father. He entered the law-office of Daniel Webster, at Boston, two years later; and in 1828 was admitted to practice, but did not devote himself to his profession. Marrying, in 1829, the daughter of Peter C. Brooks, he became brother-in-law of Edward Everett; and, in addition to his own inheritance, the alliance was attended with a fortune to the family. The people of Boston, in 1841, chose him to represent them in the Legislature. The previous year, he had declined the nomination.

had been mainly literary. and the Roman writers, as recent times, were his con

Up to this time, his pursuits Greek was a special study with him; well as the greatest authors of more stant companions. Actuated by the scholarly impulses of a stu dent, he declined a nomination to the State House of Representatives in 1841; but his father was so much disturbed by this appar ent shrinking from public duty, that he promised him to accept a second nomination if offered him the following year. After three years' service there, he took his seat in the State Senate. In 1848, the Free-soil party nominated him for the Vice-Presidency.

"The Life and the Works of John Adams," his grandfather, is highly creditable to his ability as an author and editor: a similar effort to preserve the annals of his distinguished father is promised. The Letters of John Adams and Abigail Adams were edited by him, with an Introductory Memoir, in 1840, and were received with favor.

He was elected to Congress in 1858; and also a second time, serving one term, until March 4, 1861. He manifested in all Congressional deliberations that statemanship which has always characterized him in his public and official relations. The closing sentences of his speech, Jan. 31, 1861, when the Rebellion was lifting its horrid front, will illustrate his style, and his manner of treating important topics:

When the cry goes out that the ship is in danger of sinking, the first duty of every man on board, no matter what his particular vocation, is to lend all the strength he has to the work of keeping her afloat. What! shall it be said that we waver in the view of those who begin by trying to expunge the sacred memory of the 4th of July? Shall we help them to obliterate the associations that cluster around the glorious struggle for independence, or stultify the labors of the patriots who erected this magnificent political edifice upon the adamantine base of human liberty? Shall we surrender the fame of Washington and Laurens, of Gadsden and the Lees, of Jefferson and Madison, and of the myriads of heroes whose names are imperishably connected with the memory of a united people? Never, never!

For myself, I can only interpose against what seems to me like the madness of the moon the barrier of a single feeble remonstrance; but, in any event, it shall never be said of my share in the action of this hour of danger, that it has been guided by vindictive passions, or narrow considerations of personal or party advantage. I well know what I hazard, among many whose good opinion has ever been part of the sunlight of my existence, in following what I hold to be a higher duty. Whilst at any and at all times I shall labor to uphold the great principles of liberty, without which this grand system of our fathers would seem to be a mockery and a show, I shall equally strive to give no just ground to enemies and traitors to expand the circle of mischief they may do.

Although not very frequently indulging in the profession of a devotion to the Union, which has heretofore been too often associated with a public policy I deemed most dangerous to its safety, I will venture to add, that no man over the boundless extent of our dominion has more reasons for inextinguishable attachment to it than myself. It is inwoven in my affections with the faithful labors in its support of two generations of my race; it is blended with a not inconsiderable personal stake in its continuity; it is mingled with my earnest prayers for the welfare of those who are treading after me; and, more than all these, it colors all my visions of the beneficent spread of republican institutions, as well in America as over the rest of the civilized world.

If, then, so great a calamity as a division be about to befall us, it shall be hastened by no act of mine. It shall come from the wilful passions of infatuated men, who demand it of us, to destroy the great principles for which our fathers struggled in life and in death, to stain our standard with the symbol of human oppression, and to degrade us, in the very hour of our victory,

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY.

83

before our countrymen, before all the nations of the civilized world, and before God. Rather than this, let the heavens fall! My duty is performed.

In 1861, Mr. Adams was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the court of St. James. His personal qualities of mind and character, and the prestige of his name, his father and grandfather having occupied the same high position, gave him influence at once in England. His services during the years of civil war demonstrated the wisdom of the appointment. The more than four hundred pages of printed correspondence between Secretary Seward and Mr. Adams, including that with other State officers, display a marvellous wisdom on the part of both in the management of new, delicate, and difficult questions. Mr. Adams's sagacity, prudence, and firmness were second only to Mr. Seward's in his negotiations with the English Government. The Secretary used the following language in his note to Mr. Adams, June 5, 1862:

The prejudice that we found prevailing in England soon after the civil war began, to the effect that this Government desired to challenge Great Britain to a war for popular effect at home, has been inveterate. It is pleasing, however, to discover that at last the equally prudent and just policy we have so constantly pursued is beginning to be appreciated by the British Government. No one has done more to correct the injurious error referred to than you have done.

Mr. Adams's course against permitting the iron-clads at Laird's to depart on their destructive errand "was distinctly and unreservedly approved." Indeed, whenever he acted officially, he was cordially sustained. The clear statements of mooted points, the exact estimate of what was demanded in the most trying emergency, and the uncompromising firmness in maintaining the honor of the Republic, without exasperating unfriendly feeling, will place the name of Charles Francis Adams among the ablest diplomatists of any country or age. The nation owes him a debt of profound gratitude for his distant yet efficient services during a rebellion which reached even the shores of England.

JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY,

The American minister to Austria, was born in Dorchester, Norfolk County, April 15, 1814. He graduated at Harvard College in 1831, and soon afterwards embarked for Europe. Proceeding to Göttingen, Germany, he spent a year there, and, removing to Berlin, was in that city about the same period.

After travelling in the south of Europe, he returned to America, and commenced the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1837. The profession was dry, and unattractive to his literary cast of mind; and he never gave his energies to it.

In 1840, he went to Russia as secretary of legation at St. Petersburg.

During the next six years, he published two volumes of romance, one of which, "Merry Mount," was founded upon incidents in Massachusetts colonial history.

He also contributed several valuable articles to the reviews. A History of Holland was commenced in 1846, and reached two volumes; when, to have access to material he could not find in this country, he sailed with his family for Europe again. The fresh and rich resources of information he obtained dissatisfied him with his annals; and he laid them aside to commence anew the work, with the title, "History of the Dutch Republic." It was published in London in 1856, in three volumes octavo, and had a rapid sale; reaching, by the year 1860, about fifteen thousand copies. It was republished in America, with a steady and growing demand. It has been translated into Dutch and German.

The exhaustive and attractive work gave the author a reputation wide as the domain of letters.

Mr. Motley's residence abroad was divided, for the most part, between Berlin, Dresden, and the Hague. He visited the United States in 1858, but, after a brief stay, returned to the Continent. His next great literary work was "The United Netherlands," in three volumes.

The University of Oxford, England, conferred upon him the degree of D.C.L. in 1860; and Harvard College, that of LL.D.

A few months later, he was appointed American ambassador to the court of Austria, and has occupied the important official position with credit to himself, and honor to the country.

When Napoleon decided to offer the throne of Mexico to Maximilian, it gave occasion to a correspondence between Mr. Motley and Mr. Seward in regard to the proper bearing of the American minister in the complication of national claims and rights.

Mr. Motley's résumé, from time to time, of European affairs in their relation to our country in the midst of a gigantic war, were enlightened and comprehensive, meeting the warmest approval at Washington.

Mr. Seward's reply to Mr. Motley, Feb. 26, 1863, is an example

85

ANSON BURLINGAME.

of this uniform appreciation of the able discharge of difficult

duties:

vey of Continental politics which you have taken in this paper is full of in

very interesting despatch of Jan. 27 has been received. The sur

Your

struction.

80

most, of unquiet

If questions purely dynastic, or of mere administration, or, at political organization, can make and keep so many European nations as to require constant vigilance on the part of the governments, expect that they would be tolerant of this government in its efforts preserve, in its full efficiency, a system that is so perfect as to be undisturbed by questions of those sorts, and encounters an opposition or resistance from only one disturbing cause, and that one African slavery, which the public sentiment of mankind elsewhere unanimously condemns.

one Would

to

Mr. Motley wisely avoided raising an issue on the Mexican question, or the discussion of it, at the court of Vienna. America is justly proud of an ambassador whose genius, culture, and character so much honor the nation which he represents.

ANSON BURLINGAME.

Mr. Burlingame, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to China, is a native of New Berlin, Chenango County, N.Y. He was born Nov. 14, 1822.

On the wild Western frontiers he passed his early youth, engaged in surveys of boundary-lines, and in the formation of treaties with the aborigines. He commenced his course of liberal education in the Branch University of Michigan, but, removing to Massachusetts, entered Harvard College, and graduated in 1846. He then studied law, and opened an office in Boston.

Mr. Burlingame was sent to the State Senate in 1852, and, the next year, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the Commonwealth.

Elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress, he was an active, influential member. He was re-elected to the Thirty-fifth, and served ably on the Committee of Foreign Affairs; and again, in the following session, had the same honorable position.

Under the administration of Mr. Lincoln, he was sent, in 1861, ambassador to Austria, and soon after to China.

His first letter to Mr. Seward was dated Aug. 23 of that year; and the acknowledgment of it, Dec. 9; indicating the long interval which must necessarily lie between the departure of a message from an office of legation at the antipodes,